Disclosed herein is a method of milking a cow using a milking cup of the type including a shell and a flexible liner, said liner including a hollow bore for receiving an animal's teat at a top end thereof, and for being connected to a vacuum source at the lower end thereof； the liner and shell being disposed relative to one another to create a pulsation volume between them in which fluid pressure can be controlled in order to control a pressure differential across the liner between its bore and the pulsation volume to thereby control movement of the liner and the application of air pressure to the animal's teat, the method including: Applying a vacuum to the lower end of the liner； Modulating the pressure in the pulsation volume according to a pulsation cycle to cause a milking operation on a teat of an animal that is inserted into the top end of the bore； said modulation including an "on" phase in which the vacuum applied to the liner bore is less than a vacuum applied to the pulsation volume to thereby enable milk flow from the teat, and an "off" phase in which the pulsation volume is at an increased pressure relative to the "on" phase to close the liner bore to thereby stop milk flow from the teat, said modulation including applying positive pressure to the pulsation volume to apply compressive load to the teat wherein the pulsation cycle has a duration of less than 1 second.
